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By Michael Hidalgo and Drew Maliniak, Princetonian
Sophomore Amanda Siebert and the women’s squash team fell 5-4 in a dual match against Penn over Intersession. When sports fans think of the Ivy League, their first thought is not typically “premier sports conference.” Yet in the collegiate squash world, the Ivy League dominates.
Thus, it was a pair of premier matchups when the Princeton women’s squash faced two Ivy League rivals over Intersession. In a battle between the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams, the Tigers fell to second-ranked Penn in a 5-4 heartbreaker.
The Tigers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. Freshman Jackie Moss, seniors Casey Riley and Carly Grawbowski, who is also a senior writer for the Daily Princetonian, and Margaret Kent won the number 3, 6, 8 and 9 spots on the ladder, respectively.
Leading the match 4-0, theTigers could not find a fifth victory as the Quakers claimed five consecutive matches.
“It was hard to see our undefeated streak broken, especially by a team like Penn,” senior tri-captain Casey Riley said. “Although they deserved to win that night, they certainly will not be as successful by the Howe Cup [the National Finals].”
Having snapped their 14-match win streak, the Tigers should only be more formidable. A healthy loss might be a necessary obstacle for another successful national championship, as Princeton responded with a 6-3 win against Yale.
“We were really pumped up for the Yale match,” Grabowski said. “The loss to Penn a few days before really woke us up. It brought us together as a team better than anything else could have. Before we knew how to play for ourselves, but after, we understood how to play for the team.”
The Tigers needed wins at the bottom of the ladder because the Bulldogs’ top players are very talented.
In the course of the match, sophomore No. 5 Kaitlin Sennatt was down 2-0 in games and came back to win 3-2, while sophomore No. 4 Emery Maine at also had a five-game battle.
“Without that grit that Kaitlin and Emery showed against Yale, we wouldn’t
have come away with the win,” Grawbowski said.
Princeton feels good heading into February’s championship season, as it has shown an ability to battle for each match.
Source: Daily Princetonian
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